1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bumper rubber provided in a suspension mechanism of a vehicle, and more particularly an improvement on a bumper rubber to be engaged with a dust cover.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a suspension mechanism for a vehicle supporting its body by way of a shock absorber, an elastic body so called a bumper rubber is generally provided therein in order to elastically relieve the excessive displacements of the shock absorber. The bumper rubber has a substantially cylindrical shape, and is inserted into a rod extending from a top end portion of a cylinder of the shock absorber, a top end surface thereof is brought into contact with a bottom end portion of a suspension insulator disposed on a vehicle body, and a bottom end surface thereof is brought into contact with a top end portion of the cylinder, thereby being elastically deformed.
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication (KOKAI) No. 11006/1987, a bumper rubber has been known which includes a bumper rubber body being elastically deformable and having a substantially cylindrical shape, and a ring made of a rigid material and provided integrally on an outer periphery surface of the bumper rubber body. In this bumper rubber, the ring made of a rigid body is provided in order to prevent the bumper rubber from being bent and have the pressing force of the shock absorber exerted on the whole of the bumper rubber when the shock absorber is displaced excessively.
By the way, the bumper rubber may be provided with a dust cover for covering and protecting the cylinder and the rod of the shock absorber during the travelling of the vehicle. Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication (KOKAI) No. 149608/1987 discloses such a bumper rubber to be provided and engaged with a dust cover. In this bumper rubber, the dust cover is engaged with a groove formed on an elastically deformable bumper rubber body of a substantially cylindrical shape, and the groove going round on an outer periphery of the bumper rubber body in a ring-like shape.
The bumper rubber disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication (KOKAI) No. 11006/1987 has the following good performances. Namely, when the shock absorber is displaced excessively, the bumper rubber does not bend, but the whole of the bumper rubber receives and absorbs the displacements because the bumper rubber body is provided with the rigid ring. However, the bumper rubber has a problem in the protection of the cylinder and the rod of the shock absorber because it is not provided with a dust cover.
On the contrary, the bumper rubber disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication (KOKAI) No. 149608/1987 is likely to bend when relieving the displacements of the shock absorber because it is made of the substantially cylindrical and elastically deformable bumper rubber body only. Moreover, in this conventional bumper rubber, the dust cover is engaged with the elastically deformable bumper rubber body, the engagement between the dust cover and the bumper rubber body is accordingly liable to disengage due to the vibrations and the deformations of the bumper rubber body during the travelling of a vehicle.